I slid into the booth, folding my wings as best as I could. They still overlapped Galorna's a little, and she gave me a look. I ignored her, my wings didn't trigger my power, she'd be fine.
"Why are you so late?" she asked me as I picked up the menu
"I had to wait on my transformation to repair so I wouldn't be covered in blood from the stabbing, duh." I said, raising an eyebrow. She opened her mouth then closed it again with a slight sigh. What was her problem?
"Ok, so we're all here, right?" Forica asked, looking at the four of us. Drizti was next to her, on her left, and Alele was on her right, nearest to the wall.
"Yup, this is all of us." I confirmed "Sable is staying behind to patrol more, she's got a few hours left on her shift."
"So did I..." Drizti muttered
"Right, but you're the woman of the hour." Forica said "Now, phone out, show me what you sent so far."
Drizti sighed and pulled her phone out, holding it in both hands and flipping though the bubbles with her forefingers, her thumbs pointing in the air.
"These are all my fan-requested photos I've taken. Of these, I've posted maybe five of them to my main page, and the rest went to people in DMs..." she said sadly
Forica whistled and shook her head "These are weird ones, for sure. I think most news coverage would have trouble proving to the masses that they're fetish content though, it's a lot of niche stuff."
She pointed to a specific picture "This though, and stuff like it, that's a common enough kink that people will believe it."
"I thought that was a weird thing to ask for a picture of..." Drizti admitted
"So... what are our options?" Alele asked
"I'd like to get Debbie in on this..." Galorna said "I really don't like that we're going to a third party here, no offense, Forica."
"None taken, and... we'll loop her into the ordeal once it's solved. She can play cleanup." Forica said "It's a tricky situation, and her go-to would be to make a public statement, I'm sure, which would cause more damage than good."
She drummed her wooden fingers on the table "As for our options... I think we go through and delete every DM manually, then block the people who got them. As for the ones posted to the public page..."
She opened her own phone and typed quickly, then flipped through Drizti's home page "...There's only two that are really suspicious on here, the one with the whipped cream on her face and crossed eyes, and the one where she's upside down trying to drink milk. The rest are innocent enough to regular people. I'd just hope no one notices those ones in particular, and post even more pics to your page, every day."
"More pics?" Drizti asked "I thought I wasn't supposed to-"
"More pics." Forica said firmly "The more weird and silly, the better. We need to make these look like just you being yourself instead of fetish requests. Mix it up, get your friends to take pics of you, I don't know... chasing the ducks at the park, or sitting on top of things taller than you, or wearing costumes, just being weird in general. From here on out, you're the quirky one."
"That's a whole re-branding, do we really need to do all this?" Galorna asked "Can't we just delete the photos and be done with it?"
"Absolutely not." Forica said "There's a site devoted to tracking deleted posts, as soon as a post gets deleted, it's mirrored there, and a lot of trash news people know that site. If weird photos of Verdant started popping up there, it'd draw way too much attention, it'd prove we knew about it and tried to cover it up."
"I know that site." Alele said "I've used it to stalk some people I used to like..."
"Ok, ok... I don't know how to delete the messages to people though, can you help me?" Drizti asked
"I can show you how, yeah. I'll also need your login for some of the stuff I'm doing, so I can do some myself too." Forica said "I want to make sure you're thorough, and I'll need to have access to your blocked list afterwards so I can go through and actually check to make sure if these guys re-posted the pictures."
"What if they have?" I asked "Wouldn't they still post to the other site even if they were nice and took them down?"
Forica smiled smugly "Ah, this is where my help becomes extra valuable. See, I can use the anti-revenge porn laws to get re-posts from other people taken down because they were shared in DMs, and Drizti's no longer in that 'relationship' with them, nor did she give permissions for them to share them. If that's the takedown reason, it gets marked differently on the back end, so the other netsite isn't accidentally hosting illegal content."
"Is this something you've done before?" Galorna asked
"Yeah, I had an ex who got mad when I dumped him and... well, let's just say he broke more than a few laws that day." Forica said rolling her eyes.
"I'm starting to feel better about the whole thing..." Drizti said "I... I think I'm doing ok now. I was really worried I'd ruin the team, but if all I need to do is delete messages and be silly in public, I can do that."
"It's unfortunate that you've got to be the goofy one now though..." I said "I know you wanted to be a role model for young gnomes."
"I... I think I still can be." Drizti said "I wanted to be cool and fashionable, but we gnomes are known for being very traditional in lots of ways. Goofing off and showing people gnomes can be silly too might help break some of the stereotypes?"
"That's a great way to see it, yeah." Alele agreed "We needed a silly one anyway. Sable is the angry one, or maybe the romantic one? She was acting weird in the interview. I'm the sexy one, obviously, Galorna is the tough mom mode one, and Rouge is the relatable one. Before this, Driz, you were honestly the innocent one, so... it's an upgrade."
"Wait, why do you get to be the sexy one?" I asked "I'm plenty sexy, and I'm not 'relatable', I'm the fast and reckless one, my trading card prototype says so."
"I have sexy energy, Candy." Alele said "You're more of a sexy vibe."
"My trading card just said stuff about my cult and being a healer..." Drizti said "I hadn't approved it yet, maybe I need to ask them to change it to say I love having fun or something?"
"Yeah, for sure have it changed." Forica said "And see if you can get art of you doing a funny pose on it too."
"Well they already started the art of me in pose 2a surrounded by my orbs..." Drizti said "I wouldn't want them to waste all that work."
"It's just a sketch, Verdant." Galorna said "Mine had me yelling and flexing like I just stubbed my toe, I had them fix it to be me hovering and and in a boxing pose, they'll fix it."
"Ok, I'll email them later..." she said shyly
"This went well." Forica said. "I'm happy with this. Driz, write down your login for me, and I'll call this meeting done! Who wants a snack?"
"I'm starving..." I admitted "All I had for lunch was a couple milkshakes and a terrible burger."
"The burger wasn't terrible." Alele said "Mine was amazing, your brain is just broken because of your power."
"What?" Forica asked "Your power made... burgers taste bad?"
"Don't ask." I said "I just want something to get my mind off all the stress that's happened today. Maybe a nice, sticky stack of waffles, with whipped cream and cherries and chocolate chips and butterscotch drizzle and some sprinkles, and a nice tall glass of syrup to wash it down..."
"That's... gods, I know chosen don't have to worry about their diets, but
gods." Forica said "I can't imagine enjoying that much sugar."
"...Am I going to have to learn to bake?" Galorna asked "We need to have a talk about your powers after we're done here, Angel Rouge. What you just said was concerning."
I grumbled, I was fine, I just had a sweet tooth, nothing more. I needed the energy anyway, I was starving. I wasn't sure exactly how Driz's power worked, but even after the old man had been hit with her power my guts had still been hanging on his face. I didn't feel anything missing, but I was feeling very empty now, much more than I was before the fight. Forica waved the waiter over, and we made our order, the waiter's eyebrow raising at mine, but he didn't say anything, and we were soon left alone, waiting on the food.
"So, Drizti, doing anything after this?" Forica asked "I can help you get some of the funny pictures if you like. I'll charge you... hm, let's make it forty blessings per picture we decide to post?"
"Forty- oh..." Drizti said "I'm paying you two thousand already, that doesn't come with any freebies?"
"She charges me roughly twenty five." I said "It started out free, and then she jumped the price, be careful."
"Yeah, but you know it's worth it." Forica said "I even have my nice camera with me, and I'll share them on my page, really sell the re-brand!"
"Ugh, fuck it, fine..." Drizti said, slightly annoyed "I know it's too much, and you're overcharging me just because I make a lot of money, but I don't really have anyone else to ask..."
"I could always do it!" Alele said "Free!... Well, free and you share every picture I post for a week, and none of Candy's."
"Hey!" I protested "That's- why?"
"You're still beating me, and I don't like that." Alele smirked "I like having all the power over my little pets, so I'm going to pass you in followers and then make you mine."
I gasped and spluttered, shaking my head "You- no! You can't just declare me your 'pet' in public like that! We haven't even dated or anything! You don't even know what I'm into!"
"We are on the same team though, and statistics show that-"
"No! No, look, why do you never flirt with Saffron or Sable? I'm sure she'd love it."
"They're literally dating each other." Alele said flatly. "That leaves you or Driz, and... no offense Drizti, but I'm not about to take advantage of you being clueless to get you in bed, it'd be too easy, and pretty fucked up."
"No, that's fair, I get it." Drizti agreed
"Wait..." I looked at Galorna "You and Lucy?..."
"...No, not really." Galorna sighed "It's... complicated. She's too insecure to admit she likes me, and I'm not going to push it, so... we're just playing the 'friends who cuddle too much' game for now. Please don't talk to her about it, she needs time."
"Told ya, forty percent, and it goes up from there." Alele said, smirking at me
I shook my head "I... I can't even- you know we can't- I'm not- ugh..."
"You guys are cute." Forica said as the waiter brought her eggs and bacon "If you make it official, let me take the announcement pics, kay?"
She pointed at Galorna "You too, missy."
"I'll join in the fun soon." Drizti promised "I just need to get my feet under me first."
"You don't have to 'join' anything, it's- this is..." I looked for the words "Relationships are serious, not a game."
"No, relationships aren't a game to humans." Alele said "For us elves, they absolutely are."
"They're usually arranged for gnomes, and fuck that." Drizti said "So, they're whatever to me."
"I'm with Rouge on this one..." Galorna said, picking up her fork and cutting into her southern fried steak "Relationships are very serious and need to be respected."
"Is that why your last one ended up being so messy?" Alele joked.
Galorna gripped her cutlery and I watched it bend "Please don't mention Saara again, please."
"Oh, shit, Galorna dated the heretic hunter?" Forica asked "When?"
"No, Saara, she's a sorceress, not Sera, the hero." I clarified "Saara is an unchosen human."
"Ah, boring then." Forica nodded.
Galorna's lips were tight, but she held her tongue and let out a slow breath, returning to her steak a moment later. Still a sore subject, it seemed. Honestly, it didn't seem like too big of a deal for the two of them to date, but if the one who could look at the future said it was a bad idea, then...
"So, any of you girls like dancing?" Forica asked "I'm looking for people to go to clubs with, and I don't have a lot of adult friends."
"I like dancing!" Drizti said "I don't know much about it, but I like watching the videos of people dancing on CirNet!"
"Forica, we talked about this..." I said "We can't be seen in a club with a 16 year old, we just got on top of one potential PR nightmare, we don't need another."
"I agree, I think you're a nice girl, Forica, and I appreciate you helping us, but it's not a good idea." Galorna said, nodding "If you like though, we could look into hosting a teen dance night at the cafe? You could invite friends your age, and we'd be there to dance too."
"That's... kinda lame compared to a real club." Forica complained "I like watching people get drunk and stuff, be adults. Plus the music is better at real clubs, teen dances all have songs from forty years ago."
"My offer still stands, if you'd like, you can pick the songs and I can get Debbie to go through them with me and approve them?" Galorna offered "We can put paper on the windows, get a fog machine, put lights up, it could be cool."
"Oooh, maybe we could get the cafe to sell mocktails based on us!" I said "That would actually be really cool..."
"Oh, oh!" Drizti said "I could do a light show! My power glows, I could do tricks! I just gotta remember not to do too much this time."
"I could see this being really fun, I know a DJ who could host it, he owes me for something, too." Alele said thoughtfully "We'd need a draw though, a contest maybe?"
"Like a dance competition?" Forica asked "That could be... pretty fun to watch, like, people go up and dance one by one and we all vote?"
"Sure!" Alele said "And we could offer a prize! Something to draw a crowd..."
"Cash, cash draws a crowd." I said "I'd say merch, but if they're teens, do they really want merch of magical girls?"
"If the party goes well enough they might?" Galorna rubbed her chin "I think this could be a great outreach, we'd have to be sure the church doesn't make it sanitized, it needs to feel free and cool or no one will care..."
"Lorgiaia's husband seemed to understand that stuff pretty well, he helped pick us all to target different demographics, so he understands the need to be flexible." I reminded them "I could ask Oori to talk with him, let us head it up ourselves? Sanctioned church event, so we have funds and people, but the church stays hands off."
"As long as it's not going to be like the last day of a church camp, where they try and hype everyone up for the god they follow by giving them pizza and telling them it's a 'party', then I think it could be ok..." Forica reluctantly admitted.
"Would you be interested in promoting it?" Drizti asked her
"It's my rep on the line, so... pay me, but yeah, I can spin it to my followers. I'll get my friends to post about it too, I guess." she agreed
"I'm glad we all had this sit down!" Drizti smiled "We started off trying to avoid disaster, and ended up throwing a party!"
"I want to see if we can get some guest stars," Galorna said "Rouge, do you think you could try and get other chosen to come and be 'judges' or something?"
"Me? Why me?" I asked
"You're mutuals with like six other chosen, not including us." Alele pointed out
"No, I'm mutuals with Genki and two of the Valley City Nurses." I said
"...No, Miss Missile and Fem Butch followed you back after we left the diner." Alele showed me her 'followers you follow' page on my profile, and sure enough, they'd added themselves. I also had the rest of my team, and The Unchosen, but they didn't really count.
"I don't know if I can get the Miss Missile to come to a teen dance, Alele. I've met her twice." I pointed out "Plus, her god is Ransandus, and he's in a different faction than Lorgiaia."
"Just see what you can do." Galorna said "After we get the date and time set, of course."
"Ok, I'll... see what I can do." I said
"This has been very productive!" Alele said "Now... I do want to end it here though, I have patrol later tonight, and I'd like to get some rest in case we run into that minion from before."
"Oh, that won't be a problem." Drizti said "She's over at the counter crying, I don't think she's the 'revenge' type."
I glanced over and saw a young lady in an inside out green shirt with a chicken sandwich in front of her, wiping her tears and holding back quiet sobs.
"Uh, Drizti, that's not the minion." I said nervously
"What? No, it totally is, she just turned her shirt around and took off her mask and headband." Drizti said, confused
"No, it's absolutely not her." Galorna said in a tone that left no room for argument. "Even if it was, as soon as she took off that mask, she's a different person, legally speaking. Never forget that."
"...Oh, I didn't know..." Drizti said, lowering her head
"It's ok, we don't have masks, so we didn't go over those details." Alele said "You had no way of knowing."
"Anyway... I need to rest up too." I said "I was stabbed after all."
"Actually, meet me in the sitting area on the top floor." Galorna told me "We need to chat.."
"Ooooh, girl's in trouble!" Forica said, grinning
"No, she's not, I just... need to understand a few things." Galorna said "It's nothing bad, I hope."
I rolled my eyes, and drained the rest of my syrup, licking my lips, enjoying the sticky taste coating my mouth and throat. I had an idea of what we were going to talk about, and I was already dreading it.
~~~
"Candy, you drank a glass of maple syrup." Galorna said, throwing her hands up "How do you not see how that's a problem?"
I leaned back in the leather chair and crossed my arms "I can't control my cravings, if I want a glass of syrup- which, it wasn't even real maple syrup by the way, it was the thick, fake stuff- then I'm allowed to get one."
"No- look, you've been eating sweets constantly, it's concerning." she sighed "You're drinking a slushie right now, even! Did you stop at the cafe on the way up?!"
"I mean, Lorgiaia will help me stay in shape, I just gotta train" I pointed out, sipping my cherry slush "I've been getting way stronger lately, faster than the others, and I'm pretty sure it's because of all the sweets."
"You need to get back in the habit of eating real foods again, this isn't healthy. What you told me about the burger almost making you sick is very concerning."
"Why is it concerning?!" I said, annoyed "I'm just eating what my body wants me to!"
"No, you're not." she said "You're eating what your power wants you to. And your power makes people into sweets, so... your power is... I don't know, trying to push you to eat people?"
"I thought about that already." I said "If I keep eating sweets, I won't have to worry about my power convincing me to eat someone, it's fine."
"Have you had any... urges?" she asked "In that way?"
"..." I didn't want to validate her concerns, they were stupid and pointless, but... "Yeah, I bumped Lucy and tasted frosting a few days ago. I was craving... I guess her for hours afterwards."
"So- you tasted frosting when you touched her?" Galorna confirmed "You bumped her and you think you tasted what she'd turn into?"
"Yeah, something with frosting. The good kind, not the oily kind? The stuff that's creamy and has just a little tang, and it's soooo thick, and...." I trailed off, my mouth watering "...Gods, I need to find a good bakery, not a donut shop, a bakery. Do you think there's one closer than downtown?"
Galorna stared at me, her face in a slightly horrified expression, slight disgust leaking through.
"...What?" I asked "I'll check the registry, I'll make sure it's good guy owned, I just want to see if they'll deliver me cakes."
"It's not that, Candy." Galorna said, her voice taking on an angry tone "You just described the taste of one of your teammates and were so overwhelmed by the desire to eat her you had to think of a way to get a... I don't know, a proxy?"
"Ugggh" I moaned "It's not 'her' taste, that's gross, it's the taste of whatever treat she turns into. They're good treats, Galorna. Homicide was the best piece of pie I've ever had."
She rocked back and took in a breath of air sharply "Oh, gods... you haven't... you haven't eaten him, have you?"
"No, he's still locked up." I said "I took a bite of him day of, remember?"
"...Did your power make you take a bite back then?" she asked
"No! I was just trying to figure things out." I snapped
"Most people's first idea wouldn't be to take a bite of a person is all I'm saying." Galorna shook her head
"I don't know where you're going with all this." I said "I am doing my job- I got stabbed doing my job- I'm moonlighting to do my job extra well as Comfit soon, I've been fine around the girls, and I'm growing my followers. Eating sweets won't change any of that."
"I'm saying this happened fast, I remember you loving my cooking, now you barely touch it, and-"
"Ohh, so that's what this is about, you're sad you can't be my mommy and give me your special protein breakfasts anymore, huh?" I taunted
She growled, a deep and rumbling sound "No! Godsdamnit Candy, it's got nothing to do with that, I'm saying I've watched you change over the past month, you're getting more and more self-focused, you're losing your ability to enjoy things you loved before, you're blind to obvious problems, it's a legitimate concern."
"It's literally not." I said "It's causing no problems, at all."
"It will though, if you keep getting stronger cravings, you'll end up eating someone, if you keep focusing on yourself instead of the team, you'll push us away and we'll lose cohesion, if you keep ignoring your problems, they'll consume you."
I stood up "Galorna. I know you're the team leader, but just... back off and let me eat my gods-fucking-damned sugar, ok? Can you do that? If these fake problems you're trying to force on me happen, whatever, we'll deal with it then, but I think my relationship with the team is fantastic, Alele trusts me again and wants to date me, Driz sees me as her big sister, Lucy fucking showered with me, the only one I'm not getting along with is you."
"I- damnit Candy, let me connect to you, please, look, if you need sweets, let me make you something, I connect to people by feeding them, let me get close and we can work through this..."
"You should connect to people by actually connecting to them." I retorted, opening my door
"I just want to help you, I'm concerned. I'm trying to help and I'm worried..." she looked up at me, her shoulders slumped
"If you really want to help, get the stick out of your butt and relax, just fuck off and let me eat what I want." I glared
"I'm cool! I'm fun, I watch anime and play games! I make jokes, I like to have fun and relax, I've even started smoking goblin weed with Lucy sometimes. I'm not this hard ass bitch you seem to think I am... I'm... I'm fun..." She protested weakly
"All I ever see is the you that tries to tell me what to do," I said coldly "that punches me with her power to 'train' me, who whines about her ex, and who doesn't even have half the followers I do. You try to boss me around and tell me how dangerous I am, but you've killed people too, and I'm sure as hell a lot less dangerous than an at-range brain crusher."
Her eyes filled with tears "I don't know what I did to you, Candy, I'm just trying to be a good leader, I- I held you when you cried, I supported you, we drank together, what did I do to make you hate me?"
I stared at her. What had she done? She was bossy, sure, she fussed at me like a child more than once, she was always acting like she was the most mature person in the room, was it just all building up over time? I couldn't end on a weak note though.
"Think about it, you'll figure it out." I said "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a patrol tonight that I've been dreading, and I'd like to rest up for it, and now I have to find a bakery that delivers sheet cake to the fucking 240s too, so thanks for that."
I slammed my door and stalked to my bedroom, feeling the anger and pent up feeling of something ready to burst inside me. I didn't understand where this... frustration came from. I flopped on my bed face down. I wasn't usually that mean, was I? I didn't think so, but somehow I couldn't manage to feel... any kind of remorse. I just didn't, I felt like I'd won a fight and gotten away with something, not chewed out my team leader for... What had I even lashed out at her over? Being worried? Trying to tell me to be more aware? I knew I was in the wrong, but I still couldn't feel any kind of guilt over it and that worried me.
I lay there stewing in my emotions, waiting to calm down and the anger to fade. I felt... something, underneath the anger and cloudy, sour lashing. Something that made me feel bad, it was something I wanted to fix, was that the guilt finally showing up? I felt relieved almost, I'd started to worry I'd lost my empathy or something. I focused on that feeling, and pulled it out to see what it was and how to fix it. If it was guilt, I'd apologize, if it was regret, I'd find a way to re-phrase what I said in a nicer way to make her think I'd apologized.
With a chill, I realized it wasn't guilt at all, or regret, or even shame.
I was hungry.
~~~
I took a bite of the chunk of sheet cake I was holding as I walked slowly down the street with Alele. It wasn't as good as I'd hoped, but it was fresh and it was sweet, and I wasn't hungry now. I slowed down further and looked up at the street we were about to turn onto and sighed.
"What's up?" Alele asked, glancing at me "You ok?"
"I'm just... not looking forward to this." I admitted "I haven't patrolled with her yet, and... ugh, I'm just dreading it..."
"I've patrolled with her before, it's annoying because we have to stay on the ground with her the whole time because of the incident, but she's cool. Weird, but cool."
"She's a cockroach" I said "She- ugh, ok, whatever, yeah. Let's just get it over with."
We turned the corner and saw the brightly colored building, the pinks and teals clashing in a way that made it stand out in a garish way. In front of it, leaning against the roll up door, was Amaryllis. I held back a shudder as she turned, her metal mouthpiece gleaming in the late afternoon sun, her shell looking shiny and inky at the same time, her front a lighter, sicker color than her back, her limbs all turning the wrong way. I tried not to gag and I shoved another bite of cake in my mouth to distract me as we walked up.
"You're... late, were you held up? Or did you just stop for a snack?" she asked, eyeing the last bit of cake in my hand. Her voice was robotic and harsh, and I could hear furious clicking as she spoke, her teeth and tongue working the mechanics to craft words from movement instead of air.
"We just underestimated the walk, sorry!" Alele said chipperly
Amaryllis nodded "I understand, it's a big section. I'm considering building a bike of some sort to get around."
"Oh, you build things?" Alele asked "Are you a super scientist?"
"Not quite, no." Amaryllis said, shaking her... head? The top of the shell? Whatever her 'face' was attached to. "I have a talent for building and creating, I went to a school for super science back in Canyon City, but I failed out. I don't have the spark that lets me build things that defy logic, unfortunately."
"Is that why you became a shut in?" I asked, finally getting the courage to speak up "Flunking out made you depressed or something?"
She looked at me and a clicking sound sounded out from behind her mask before she answered "Yes, that is what lead to my self imposed imprisonment."
"Weellll uh, let's head out then, shall we?" Alele said "We have a lot of ground to cover!"
We headed out from there, making our way out from the center of the section to the far edge, making our way inwards in a zig-zag pattern. We tried to mix up the direction and order we did our rounds every patrol, to make sure we didn't get predictable, but as a result, I'd usually get turned around on foot. My wings itched to be used, but I plodded along, unsure of where we were going or even what direction we were headed. I saw more shops, a couple bars with people inside who watched us as we passed, and a few more of the fake buildings that hid... something dangerous. I did my best to avoid looking directly at Amaryllis, I'd run out of cake, and I worried if I looked too closely at her, I'd scream, vomit, or run away, and I wanted to at least pretend to be friendly.
"So, Amaryllis, how are the renovations coming along?" Alele asked "I heard you guys were donating portions of your pay to fixing up your base, right?"
"It's coming along well." she said, her artificial voice making me jump "My room is mostly finished. I have a bed and my own bathroom now."
"Did you... not have a bed before?" I asked "Did you sleep in a box or something?"
"I had a sleeping bag." she said, glancing at me
"Must have been a big sleeping bag..." I said, looking at her shell and then quickly looking away
"It was two, zipped together." she explained
"...Mm." I said, not sure where to take the conversation from here.
"Oh, hey, check this out!" Alele called back to us from slightly ahead "I found a thing!"
I jumped on the distraction and walked over to the building next to us, one of the fake ones. Taped to the side was a poster with big bold words on it: "MISSING: MY DAUGHTER, REWARD AVAILABLE FOR ANY INFORMATION". Underneath the words was a picture of the... weird bug human hybrid from a couple days ago, the one I'd been stabbed over earlier. It was wearing a fluffy sweater and holding its arms out to the sides with a big grin on its face.
I stared at it in the darkening evening, feeling odd over it. She'd had this printed and hung it up sometime in the last couple hours, the woman really wanted this thing back... The contact information at the bottom of the page was a local code, meaning it was her actual, traceable information. She'd get tracked down over this by the GGDS if she kept it up... Amaryllis stepped up and stared at the poster for a few seconds before reaching out and taking it off the wall, folding it up and tucking it into her skirt.
"Hey why'd you do that?" Alele asked "Someone might know something and see the poster."
"I think I know something." Amaryllis said "I need this."
"Did you see the thing on the poster somewhere?" I asked "It's kinda small, and it's fast, so I imagine it's hiding behind or under some of the trash littering our section, ready to slither away at a moment's notice. Well, if it's not been killed by someone already, of course... It's kinda terrifying, freaked me out when I first saw it."
She stared at me and her limbs moved, twitching and shaking slightly. She hissed a low, quiet noise, it sounded like air escaping from a tire, and I stepped back away from her, feeling a chill go through me. I swallowed, she seemed upset, was she angry at me? I glanced at Alele, and felt a cringe as I saw her glaring at me, her jaw set hard. I blinked, why was Alele mad? I wasn't even talking to her, I was just trying to get used to talking to Amaryllis...
"I believe I must return home." Amaryllis said "I'm sorry I cannot finish the patrol, but I have begun to feel unwell."
She turned, and walked quickly in a direction. I assumed she knew where she was going, but I still had no idea where we were. I turned back to Alele as she walked off and frowned "That was weird, right?" I asked, shaking my head "She saw that poster and instantly felt ill."
"Gods, Candy, you're so oblivious sometimes..." she muttered "Now we have to do the patrol alone, and her whole team is going to ask her why she went home early."
"So? She can explain to them whatever she wants, why do we care about that?" I said, shrugging
"Because if she tells them about how you've been a bitch to her all night, and how insensitive you were, it'll make the rest of us look bad too, gods."
"Insensitive?!" I asked, shocked "I was so polite, I didn't call her a bug or gag or anything, I stayed calm! I didn't even scream this time!"
"This time?" Alele asked
"Well- I screamed the first time we met, I think tonight was a great improvement." I said, nodding "I even spoke to her, at least twice."
Alele stared at me for a few long seconds and her frown deepened "I want to give you the benefit of the doubt here because you're usually better than this, so...remind me to look up some of the tenants of our church later, I need to check some things."
"What?" I said, shaking my head "Ok, sure, whatever, what does that have to do with our patrol member fucking off?"
"I just want to check on some stuff." Alele said "Ugh, look, can we just get in the skies? We've still got over half our section to cover."
"Yeah, I've been itching to fly this whole time..." I said, flaring my wings "I hate being stuck on the ground."
"Just fly, Candy..." Alele said, sighing
I didn't need any encouragement, and I rocketed up into the air, the ground spinning below me as I swooped and dashed, covering the section way better and way faster than we had been doing. I got the feeling Amaryllis had gone home because of the bug human baby thing somehow, but I couldn't imagine why. I pushed it out of my head though, she was off the patrol, and that meant I could fly and be free, and that already made the night better than it had been a few minutes ago.